Kamal Hussein (pictured) drove around 180 miles to Cardiff to defraud a pensioner

Share

Get daily updates directly to your inbox

Thank you for subscribing!

Could not subscribe, try again laterInvalid Email

A conman working for the AA stole money from two Welsh pensioners when he made unauthorised visits to their homes.

The victims aged 88 and 78 were the latest in a long line of people who have been targeted over the years by fraudster Kamal Hussein, 34, Cardiff Crown Court heard.

As Hussein, also known as Kamal Miah was jailed for two-and-a-half years.

Prosecutor Andrew Morse said he contacted the 78-year-old by phone, before turning up on her doorstep in Canton.

“He had told her she’d overpaid by £149 and he was returning it.

“She was alone and invited him in and as he sat in her front room he asked for her bank card which he placed in a machine he was carrying.

“She put in her PIN number as he watched, returned the card to her purse and then went to the kitchen because he asked for a drink of water.

“After he left, she found the card gone and £250 cash was taken out of her account in Cowbridge Road East that day.”

Sensing something was wrong, the woman preserved the glass for police to use to trace him.

Later there were failed attempts in Cardiff, Newport and in Manchester, where Hussein lives at Arbor Drive to steal another £750.

And the theft had come just a week after a similar raid on the bank accounts of an 88-year-old man in Wrexham, who also lives alone and received a call from the conman, who blames others for forcing him to commit frauds and thefts.

He too got a visit at home which wasn’t part of the defendant’s role with the AA, Mr Morse told the court.

“He was an AA member but was told his payment had not been made and was asked for his bank card” Mr Morse said.

“He put in his PIN and Hussein left with the machine and the card.

“That day it was used to withdraw a total of £720 in Manchester.”

Police arrested Hussein a few days later in work at an AA office in Cheadle where they found a notebook in his desk detailing the personal details of customers – something which should not have been recorded by employees.

His previous 28 offences, which began as a juvenile, were all said to be for dishonesty.

In 2003 he was jailed for deception after getting a job as a bank clerk and attempting to steal £52,000. He had failed to disclose previous convictions.

He had also transferred funds from accounts on other occasions and in 2011 stole an iPad from another company which employed him.

At the time of the Welsh thefts he was on a suspended sentence for frauds committed while working for Fresh Start Living in Salford when he posed as a letting agent, taking thousands of pounds in deposits for properties and handing over keys which did not fit the locks.

His barrister Ffion Thomas said he wasn’t claiming to have actually acted under duress but he did have a £50,000 debt and people wanted paying.

She told Judge Daniel Williams: “He became involved with a gang at 18 and is committing offences to repay them.

“There was an eight-year gap in his offending and that was because he was working abroad.

“He has a wife who is standing by him and two children but the only way he can break free from the people is to leave altogether.”

The judge said Hussein, who admitted the thefts, had sensed the vulnerability of the pensioners over the phone and then planned his visits.

“You have shown no remorse whatsoever and your record is appalling”, he told him.

Detective Constable Sara Bradbury from South Wales Police said: “Hussein used many different names and had no connection to Cardiff. He targeted this lady because of her age and there were other similar victims in North Wales and Kent.

“Our victim felt stupid that this had happened to her but in reality she is an extremely smart lady and without her help we would not have caught Hussein.

“When she was told he was now in prison she was very relieved and said she could finally stop shaking.”